•Tbe 



.^ersity of (j. 



AN ADDRESS 



Delivered at the Commencement of the 



Ohio State University 



June 25, 1890 



ALBERT H. TUTTLE 



University of Virginia. 



HANN A ADAIR, PRS., 108 N. HIGH ST.. COLUMBUS* «. 



' ,J' 






60S61 



Sl^e Qi^iVersitvj o[ Qtopia. 



Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, 
Members of the University, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

The subject which has been announced for me this morn- 
ing may at first sight seem to some of you to be somewhat out 
of the way; if any such, however, will but reflect a moment, 
they will, I trust, perceive that it is in reality the one theme to 
which I am practically confined ; indeed, instead of my choos- 
ing it, it may be said to have chosen me. This is a university 
occasion, and Columbus is, in a limited sense (I confess that 
the limits are rather narrow as yet), a university town. I come 
from a place that is a university, morning, noon, and night, for 
six days in the week, and where we go to a university chapel 
on Sundays : my business has been with universities for the 
last twenty years, and I must be called a university man, if for 
no other reason, at least by the method of exclusion ; if I am 
to pay any attention to the sound old maxim, ^''Ne sutor ultra 
crepidam^^'' I am, as you see, as restricted in the choice of my 
subject as was Mrs. Bardell of glorious memory in the selec- 
tion of a lodger. Of a university, therefore, shall my speech 
be made. 

But of what university shall I speak? Our library shelves 
teem with volumes that tell of the glories and the transcendent 
excellence of the German foundations: you have doubtless 



read them all. The peculiar characteristics of the French 
system also are as well known as those of the Italian, of which 
the former was an outgrowth. Scandinavia and Russia, Hun- 
gary and Spain are alike familiar to you. Shall I, then, go 
farther, and speak of the colleges and universities of Madras, 
Calcutta, and Bombay? You know as much of them as I do 
already. Of those vast fountains of profound learning (located 
nobody knows where), in which esoteric Buddhism reigns 
supreme, and where the mystic light of Theosophy shines 
through the transfigured intellects of its votaries? Madame 
Blavatsky (who knows quite as much about it as I do), has 
already told as much" of that as the credulity of the average 
public will stand. Of China? Clumsy fingers should handle 
China delicately. Of Japan? This institution owes an old 
grudge to the university of Japan, and I surely would not 
wish to awaken unpleasant memories on this auspicious 
occasion. 

Shall I direct your gaze southward from Europe? The 
glory of Alexandria has departed : and the university of Cairo 
is to-day but a grammar school where devout Mohammedans 
recite the Koran in chorus with a vigor of lung and an absence 
of comprehension that would do honor to a "concert exercise" 
in a city ward school (of thirty years ago). Algiers is France — 
diluted. The university of Capetown is a metamere of the 
university of I^ondon. Khartoum and Timbuktu repeat the 
story of Cairo : and as for the university of Bakololo, I shall 
not betray confidence by saying anything about it. Mr. Stanley 
has put himself to some considerable inconvenience recently to 
visit it, and it would be unkind indeed to forestall him in its 
description. Shall we go still farther from home, and seek in 
Australasia an unknown field? Sydney and Melbourne, New 



— 3 — 

Zealand and Otago repeat with Capetown the methods, the 
excellences, and the defects of the English universities. 

Does some one ask, Why go away from home at all ? Why 
not tell us what the American university is, and what it does? 
I wish I could ! He must indeed be a brave man who to-day 
attempts to say what the American university is, or which is 
the Simon-pure American university. Is it Harvard? Is it 
Yale? or Princeton? Columbia? or Johns Hopkins? Did 
Thomas Jefferson found it ? or Ezra Cornell ? Is it in Michi- 
gan? or Ohio? or California? Who can tell? As long as it 
was left to base-ball alone to decide the matter, there was some 
hope that we would one day know which was really the great- 
est of American universities, and the model for all others: but 
with foot-ball entering as a disturbing element, the problem 
becomes more complex; and when we add the cinder track 
exercises^ (which in my humble judgment ought really to have 
been reserved for candidates for post-graduate honors), we find 
ourselves face to face with the problem that still, I believe, 
baffles the astronomers: the gravitation of three points about 
each other. I shall certainly not attempt to solve it for you 
this summer day. 

I trust that I have said enough to show you that if I am to 
talk today of a university of which you have never heard, and 
an account of which will at least have the merit of novelty 
even to those of you who have most diligently and conscien- 
tiously read your Encyclopedia Britannicas through, I am 
constrained to speak of one in that land over which the cross 
of St. George has never waved ; in which the trivium and 
quadrivium are unheard of; where Buddha and Islam alike are 
unknown and unworshiped ; where the grasping tendencies 
of the papacy and the secularizing influence of infidel science 



are alike unfelt ; where Burschenschaften and fraternities are 
alike unheard of; and where they do not even have a college 
yell ! That land (need I say it?) is Utopia. I come before you 
this morning, therefore, to say something about the University 
of Utopia, and possibly before I close, of universities else- 
where as well. 

Utopia is a very interesting country. Its name signifies, 
in Utopese, ''the land where men always profit by the experi- 
ence of others " : I believe that my friends the philologists will 
bear me witness that that is a reasonably correct though some- 
what roundabout translation of the word. Our knowledge of 
the land is confessedly scanty. Sir Thomas More gathered 
a connected but fragmentary account from the old traveler 
Hythloday, whose statements have never been impeached ; 
have, indeed, been hardly questioned : but Sir Thomas himself, 
though curious enough to know something more of the land he 
had described so well, never started to visit it until Henry 
the Eighth gave him a passport. For some good reason Sir 
Thomas has never given us an account of his journey. 

I take it for granted that I do not need to tell an audience 
whose culture and intelligence are evidenced by their sympa- 
thetic presence on an occasion like the present, where Utopia 
is : if haply any one among you does not know, he can inform 
himself by consulting his metaphysical geography. In spite 
of the interest that its name awakens, men rarely go there ; or, 
rather, few men arrive there, though quite a number have 
started in that direction: from the locality where many of 
these voyagers bring up, I think I may safely give you the hint 
that its location is to the westward, and that it is somewhere 
beyond the farther bank of the Scioto; where, indeed, the 
State has erected a large and commodious half-way house. I 
(iid not §tQp there when I went. 



— 5 — 

How I reached Utopia is a matter of small importance : 
one incident only of the journey needs to be mentioned. I 
had entered the country of the Anemolians, which, as you 
know, is near to Utopia, when I became conscious of a stranger 
traveling in the same direction as myself. His head lacked 
that smoothness which is predicted of the coming American ; 
but he wore spectacles, and bore other marks of being a learned 
man: his appearance was not altogether prepossessing, but I 
felt at that time that poor company was better than none ; he 
was evidently of like mind, for he presently joined me. He 
proved to be the Rev. Dr. Alazon, Rector (certainly not mag- 
nificus) of the University of Skowhegan ; and that he was a 
very talented personage was shown by the fact that in addition 
to this important office he also filled those of Chancellor of the 
Board of Regents, President of the Faculty, and Professor of 
the Natural, Mental, and Moral Sciences. His colleagues, as I 
learned in the course of conversation, were a young man of 
great talent who had recently completed, in two years and 
three-quarters from the district schools, the entire course of the 
International Abnormal University, and now taught the An- 
cient and Modern Languages; his son-in-law, who taught His- 
tory, Mathematics and Book-keeping ; and his daughter, who 
taught Art ; her painting, copied from an old master, of seven 
peaches rolling out of an over-turned basket, had been highly 
commended by the local press. Instruction in Music was, given 
(with an extra charge for the use of the piano) by a teacher 
who visited the university at stated intervals whenever the 
number electing that branch of culture warranted: in this 
manner the lighter graces and refinements of life were grafted 
upon the stock of a thorough and liberal education. As if all 
this were not enough, the leading practitioner of the village 



gave a course of lectures yearly to all who chose to attend 
them, upon Physiology and the Laws of Health. What more 
could be desired? 

On learning who I was, the old gentleman was so kind as 
to say that he had heard the institution with which I was con- 
nected well spoken of; but deprecated the interference (as he 
termed it), of the State in matters of higher education, saying 
that the institutions supported by the hard-won earnings of 
the taxpayers were not only atheistic in character, and demor- 
alizing in their tendencies, but that they admitted young meu 
and women free of charge for tuition. He mentioned with an 
air of modest complacency the fact that his institution (which 
he assured me was the only one connected with his religious 
body in five counties), had often been spoken of by the press 
of his denomination as a bulwark of the faith against the mate- 
rializing tendencies of modern science, now being brought 
into his territory in the original packages. It conferred, he 
informed me, seventeen different degrees : seven of these were 
honorary, and were given for eminence in professional life and 
for other legitimate considerations; the others were given in 
course. On my expressing some surprise at the ratio between 
the number of courses and the size of the faculty, he told me 
that their degrees, like the inflections of the Greek verb, were 
used to convey nice shades of meaning : for example, they 
made a distinction between students who "took" arithmetic 
before and after they studied book-keeping: they also had 
degrees adapted to the intellectual capacity of young ladies. 

Personally, the Rector was not at all a bad fellow: he 
evidently read the newspapers, and was well posted : he had a 
fund of dry humor, and was always ready for an argument, 
and we got along very well together. He expressed his 



— 7 — 

opinions freely upon all the educational questions of the day, 
and particularly upon the elective system, to which he chiefly 
objected as calling for the employment of an unnecessarily 
large number of instructors: and in return I endeavored to 
explain to him the organization and working of the University 
of Virginia. I hope that he understood my explanation. 

We presently came to the city of Amaurote, the capital 
of Utopia, and as we entered it, we had the good fortune to 
meet with one of the chief philarchs of the city, who received 
us with great courtesy. We told him our names and, in order 
that he might know exactly who we were, our official posi- 
tions ; but the latter, strangely enough, appeared to make but 
little impression upon him. When, however, he understood 
that we were teachers by vocation and were in quest of new 
ideas, he gladly did all in his power to further our ends. 
Modestly deprecating his own knowledge of the educational 
system of Utopia, save as he had experienced its workings, 
as had every citizen, he led us to a suburb of the city easy of 
access and pleasantly situated along the banks of the Anyder, 
where we saw a cluster of buildings, some larger, some smaller. 
"Ah!" said I, "is that your university?" "That," said he, 
"is where the University is." To one of these buildings, con- 
veniently placed, he guided us and there presented us to the 
Doxosophos, or head of the university. 

Our new acquaintance was a man of mature years, fresh 
and vigorous of mind and body, of commanding presence and 
pleasing address. On learning our mission, he expressed his 
readiness to show and to tell us all that lay in his power. He 
was not, as he told us, at that time largely engaged with the 
work of teaching, it being rather his duty to direct and co- 
ordinate the labors of those who were so employed ; to council 



and assist the students according to their needs ; to study the 
affairs of the commonwealth, and to so order the workings of 
the university as to render it of the highest value to the public 
weal. With discipline he had but little to do ; but that little 
was done with firmness and with justice. He was surprised 
to find how large a part the latter played in the activities of 
college presidents in our land, and said that he should regard 
it as a proof that the council had erred in selecting him for 
his position, and should feel himself constrained to choose 
some other vocation (which he was free to do) were he so 
situated. He had been for years a teacher, and had been 
chosen for his present office from among his colleagues be- 
cause of his experience and fitness. He expressed great in- 
terest and some amusement on learning that with us men 
were often put in similar positions because they were popular 
preachers, prominent politicians, (a vocation that we had to 
explain to him), successful business men, or skillful physi- 
cians ; and was pleased to learn that the percentage of failures 
among such was no larger than it was. In Utopia, he said, 
such a course would not be thought of; and that it would be 
entirely unnecessary, as there were in the body of which he 
was the head many who could ably fill his place when he 
should vacate it. He spoke enthusiastically of his subordi- 
nates, most of whom he had chosen himself, having been in 
his present position for a number of years. To each of them 
was assigned within his appropriate sphere full pbwer to act; 
and upon each was laid in the same measure the responsibility 
of success. His own authority, however, in the general affairs 
and policy of the university was supreme ; and he would have 
felt himself personally responsible had it failed of a high 
measure of usefulness. Experience had taught them, he said, 



— 9 — 

that in every regiment there must be several captains, each 
over his own company ; but that there must be one colonel 
in command. 

I' may remark in passing that these were not his exact 
words. Since old Hythloday had made the Utopians familiar 
with the Greek language and literature, these had been a 
favorite study with them, both on account of their beauty and 
for their disciplinary value ; and the Doxosophos spoke Greek 
quite as fluently as the Rector or myself. I make this report, 
however, in English for obvious reasons, and have in some 
instances (as in the one just cited), transferred his metaphors 
to familiar form. 

The expenses of the university were, he said, borne as a 
matter of course, entirely by the state (at this my friend the 
Rector winced a little ) ; it existed for the public welfare, its 
end being to make intelligent and useful citizens, and in order 
that all might freely enjoy its advantages to the full measure of 
their abilities, there were no obstacles left in the way of any 
that could possibly be removed. Distinctions of wealth and 
poverty, I may note by the way, had small place with them ; 
but this was in Utopia. " For they marvel that any men be so 
foolish as to have delight and pleasure in the doubtful glisten- 
ing of a little trifling stone, which may behold any of the stars, 
or else the sun itself. Or that any man is so mad, as to count 
himself the nobler for the smaller or finer thread of wool, 
which self same wool ( be it now in ever so fine a spun thread ), 
a sheep did once wear ; and yet was she all that time no other 
thing than a sheep. They marvel also that gold, which of the 
own nature is a thing so unprofitable, is now among all people 
in so high estimation, that man himself, by whom, yea and for 
the use of whom it is so much set by, is in less estimation than 



— 10 — 

the gold itself. Insomuch, that a lumpish, block-headed churl, 
and which hath no more 'wit than an ass, yea, and as full of 
naughtiness as of folly, shall have nevertheless many wise and 
good men in subjection and bondage, only for this, that he hath 
a great heap of gold." That was in Sir Thomas More's time. 
Of course, things are different now. At any rate, they all had 
a fair chance at the University of Utopia. 

Conversing thus upon divers matters, the Doxosophos led 
the way to an adjoining building, where he said that some of 
their most important work was done. I, of course, felt confi 
dent that it must be a biological laboratory, while my friend 
the Rector was equally sure that it was the lecture room for 
what he called mental science ; it proved to be a large and 
intelligently equipped gymnasium. Some of the appliances 
for lofty trapeze work were absent, as were all facilities for 
jumping through hoops on horseback ; the appointments were, 
however, very much like though rather better than those of the 
best establishments of the kind in our own universities at the 
present day. With my usual readiness to impart information 
to the unenlightened, I began to expatiate upon the Sargent 
system of physical culture, and particularly upon its efficacy in 
finding out the weak places of the body, and in some measure 
mending them. The Doxosophos replied that patched was 
certainly better than broken, but that they had learned by ex- 
perience that it was wiser to keep a thing whole than to mend 
it ; and that while it sometimes happened that students came 
to them defective in body ( even as some were occasionally 
born defective in mind ) and to such remedial treatment was 
given, it was the aim of their whole system to preserve from 
childhood the bodies of their young in health and vigor, seeing 
that only in such bodies might they wisely expect vigorous and 
wholesome minds 



— li- 
lt then appeared, upon inquiry, that the system to which 
he had frequently alluded, was one that included the whole 
education, physical and mental, of the young, beginning in 
something very much like our kindergartens the work which 
the University completed. My friend the Rector inquired of 
the Doxosophos if they had not had some difficulty in bringing 
the common schools to the requirements of the University; to 
which he replied that while they had had no experience (and 
had indeed never made the attempt) as to the readiness with 
which a house could be built under a roof already fashioned, 
they never had any trouble in framing the roof to the structure 
of the house ; though experience had shown it still wiser to 
build all according to a well perfected plan. This they did 
alike in the training of the body and the education of the 
mind, which they divorce not from each other. 

The Doxosophos said farther, in answer to our question, 
that they counted this bodily discipline profitable in itself, 
and for this reason : "They be much inclined to this opinion, 
to think no kind of pleasure forbidden, whereof cometh no 
harm." "They make divers kinds of pleasures. Some they 
attribute to the soul, and some to the body. To the soul they 
give intelligence and that delectation that cometh of the con- 
templation of truth : hereunto is joined the pleasant remem- 
brance of the good life past. The pleasure of the body they 
divide into two parts : the first is where delectation is sensibly 
felt and perceived. The second part of pleasure, they say, is 
that which consisteth and resteth in the quiet and upright 
state of the body ; and that truly is every man's own proper 
health, intermingled and disturbed with no grief. For this, 
if it be not letted nor assaulted with no grief, is delectable 
of itself, though it be moved with no external nor outward 



— 12 — 

pleasure : for though it be not so plain and manifest to the 
sense as the greedy lust of drinking and eating, yet neverthe- 
less many take it for their chiefest pleasure." 

My friend the Rector, whose mind had ever a practical 
turn, here inquired if they had found that their students took 
enough interest in the work in question to justify the addi- 
tional expense. This question was evidently unexpected and 
somewhat puzzling to the Doxosophos ; for he made no answer 
directly, and fell into a fit of musing, from which he presently 
roused himself; and with the air of one to whom new possi- 
bilities of human nature had been made suddenly known, 
inquired of us whether or no the youth of our country cared 
sufficiently about the daily nourishment of their bodies to 
make it worth while to set food before them. We both replied 
in one breath in the affirmative to what seemed to us at first a 
surprising question ; whereupon he made no farther comment. 

Continuing to discourse upon bodily exercises, we inquired 
of the Doxosophos whether with them the minds of the young 
tended not largely to games and idle sports. " Truly," said he, 
"but why call you them idle? For we count these of great 
value indeed unto our youth, so that they be used with discre- 
tion ; not merely for the pleasure thereof, though this we value 
duly, nor yet so much for that they minister to the bodily 
health of them that partake therein, though this they do 
greatly ; but far more in that these games, and more particu- 
larly those in which the partakers thereof contest together for 
the mastery, either singly, as in wrestling, leaping and other 
manly exercises, or in parties (as in divers games with spheres 
which be thrown, or struck, or kicked within fixed bounds), do 
beget in the users thereof a courageous and dauntless spirit ; 
joined tg a control and mastery not only oyer their limbs and 



— 13— 

bodies, but more especially over their minds and the natural 
rashness of their tempers ; so that they who thus strive, and 
they be the most part of our youth, are trained when they 
come to man's estate to contend wisely in their affairs ; and 
also in the affairs of the commonwealth, each to outdo the 
other in honorable service to the public weal ; and this without 
jealously or wrath at the greater excellence of others. More- 
over," said he, "experience hath taught us that a man, being 
naturally of sluggish and unready mind, though otherwise of 
good parts, if he enter often into argument with his fellowmen 
not only in weighty mattery, but in lighter ones as well, may 
indeed become of ready and even of nim*ble wit ; so if a youth, 
though sound of body, be somewhat loutish, in striving against 
other, he becometh far more ready and alert ; wherefore we 
regard these sports even as the wit and humor of the body ; 
and we provide that such be used freely, caring only that they 
be used with wisdom." 

The Rector and myself joined in saying that the University 
of Utopia had certainly made ample provision for the physical 
education of its students ; to which the Doxosophos replied 
that this was not all, but that there was still other, that some 
accounted of even greater value than that which we had seen. 
So saying, he conducted us to another building. "Ah !" said I, 
upon entering, " this is your mechanical laboratory." " This," 
said he, "is where we train at once, and in accord, the eye, the 
brain, and the hand." "I suppose," said the Rector, "those 
come here who expect to work for a living." "Who does 
not?" replied the Doxosophos, with the same puzzled air that 
we had once or twice observed before. The students were at 
work; and as we passed from place to place I noticed that 
far more attention was paid by them (and required by their 



— 14 — 

instructor^) to the accuracy and precision with which all was 
done than to the number of pieces turned out ; and that while 
tardiness or dilatory conduct was sharply reproved, hastiness 
and satisfaction with imperfect work were no less strongly cen- 
sured. In response to an inquiry, we learned that all who 
entered the university were required to pursue this work 
in some measure, and this without regard to their future 
vocation: that while gymnastic training secured health and 
strength, and the games alertness and readiness of body, the 
accurate control of the muscles and particularly of the hands 
came better this way ; while the nice subjection of the muscles 
to the control of the will essential to the finer works of pre- 
cision which students were here called upon to perform was of 
inestimable value to them all. The Doxosophos said that they 
had observed that what was often called presence of mind in 
great emergency was usually, if not always, the consciousness 
that the body was perfectly in command : that it was the 
awkward and untrained who were timorous and faint of heart : 
"wherefore," said he, "though we count it no mean thing 
that each should know the use of tools, yet we esteem beyond 
measure the discipline of the will." 

I noticed that our guide always spoke of students ; and 
presently I saw that among those engaged in these exercises 
were young women as well as young men. As a representative 
of the most conservative foundation in America I felt it my 
duty (officially), to inquire if both sexes were admitted to 
the university. "And why not?" replied the Doxosophos 
promptly, apparently resolved to be no longer surprised at any 
of our queries. He went on to say that with them the state 
was simply the exponent of the people ; that it existed entirely 
for their welfare ; and that to shut out one half of them from 



— 15 — 

privileges enjoyed by the others would seem to them rank 
injustice. " I know not," said he, " how it may appear to you." 
In reply to the query of the Rector whether they thought 
women capable of the same education as men, he replied that 
a man began ill who thought meanly of his parents; "and" 
said he, " my mother was a woman." With regard to the par- 
ticular work before us, he said that just as in the gymnasium 
their tasks were proportioned to their lesser natural strength, 
so here they were given lighter tools and less resisting mater- 
ials ; but the discipline in view was still the same. I was about 
to say something about the relative practical value of the use 
of tools to women and to men ; but I remembered what a 
botch an American woman usually makes of it when she tries 
to smash her thumb with a hammer, and kept silence. 

From here we went to other buildings. We found indeed 
biological and other laboratories, lecture rooms and seminaries ; 
museums of natural history, and of economic products (in 
which they greatly excel ) ; central to all was a large and wisely 
ordered library. Work was everywhere in progress. The 
Doxosophos was evidently as familiar with each of these as 
with the hall in which, as he told us with an air of fond 
remembrance, he had himself lectured for many years. Into 
the details of what we saw I need not enter here. One does 
not need to leave America to see good teaching done. Every- 
where, however, we found a common purpose : to encourage 
and direct the labor of the student ; to stimulate and strength- 
en the mental powers ; to train and develop the reason, the 
judgment, and the inward vision. Honest, faithful work was 
everywhere required ; discipline was firm and kind ; govern- 
ment was first just and then generous ; far more was made of 
merit than of demerit. 



— 16 — 

Returning to the office of the Doxosophos, we entered into 
a free discussion of the purpose of the work that we had seen. 
He told us that it was their first care, in the rearing of their 
youth, to see to it that their bodies be kept sound and well, 
and be brought to the full development of their powers ; as 
much as this, he said, they did even for their horses and cattle ; 
how much more then for their children. Inasmuch, however, 
as the mind of man is more and other than the spirit of a 
brute that goeth downward unto the earth, so they more 
earnestly sought to keep in the like health and vigor and to 
bring to their best condition the powers and qualities of the 
mind ; and more than all to quicken and inspire the heart 
and soul to nobleness and excellence of life, wherein alone is 
felicity. " For they think no felicity to rest in all pleasure, 
but only in that pleasure that is good and honest; and that 
hereto as to perfect blessedness our nature is allured and 
drawn even of virtue, t^hereto only they that be of the con- 
trary opinion do attribute felicity. For these define virtue to 
be life ordered according to nature, and that we be hereunto 
ordained of God. And that he doth follow the course of 
nature who in desiring and refusing things is led by reason. 
Furthermore, that reason doth chiefly and principally kindle 
in men the love and reveration of the divine majesty. Of 
whose goodness it is that we be, and that we be in possibility 
to attain felicity." 

To this end, said he, they studied carefully to find such 
means as may best serve ; even as they had devised many ma- 
chines for the training of the body: one serving for this part 
and one for that. And just as there were many feats of great 
value in the gymnastic training of the body that few have need 
to practice in after-life, so there were many studies whose mas- 



— 17- 

tery was of passing worth, which yet had little market value. 
^' Whoso," said he, "climbeth with hard labor a steep and 
lofty mountain, is ofttimes the better man for it, though he 
carry nothing from the summit but a vision." 

Unto the furtherance of this end they attribute alike great 
value to the study of Nature, both of the things that are, in 
their order, and of the forces that work therein ; deeming it a 
reproach that any should walk blindly in a world of order and 
beauty:, to the study of the Languages and writings of other 
people ( as of their own as well) ; holding that he will think the 
more nobly in his own mind who deals often with the noblest 
thoughts of others, even though such are dwellers in foreign 
lands, or long since dead : to the study of Mathematics, which 
they regard as of sovereign value ; as also to Logic, which is 
near akin to it, though in an old-fashioned manner ; for " as 
they in all things be almost equal to our old ancient clerks, so 
our newer logicians in subtle inventions have far passed and 
gone beyond them. For they have not devised one of all those 
rules of restrictions, amplifications, and suppositions very 
wittily invented in the small logicals which here children in 
every place do learn. Furthermore, they were never yet able 
to find put the second intentions ; insomuch that none of them 
all could ever see man himself in common, as they call him, 
though he be (as you know), bigger than was any giant, yea, 
and pointed to by us even with our finger. But nevertheless, 
they be in the course of the stars and the movings of the 
heavenly spheres very expert and cunning." 

They account of like if not of greater value the study of 
History, alike of their own and of other nations, looking upon 
these as treasure houses of experience whereby they may be 
wisely guided to their profit : of Psychology, in which they 



— 18 — 

diligently endeavor to know the workings of the mind itself, 
even as by Physiology they know the body, in order that they 
may use each wisely (but they confound not the two); and 
of Philosophy, which they count highest of all ; " for while 
they by the help of this philosophy search out the secret mys- 
teries of nature, they think themselves to receive thereby not 
only wonderful great pleasures, but also to obtain great thanks 
and favor of the Author and Maker thereof ; whom they think 
to have set forth the marvelous and gorgeous frame of the 
world for man with great affection intentively to behold ; whom 
only He hath made of wit and capacity to consider and under- 
stand the excellency of so great a work. And therefore He 
beareth, say they, more good will and love to the curious and 
diligent beholder of his work, and marvelor at the same, than 
He doth to him which like a very brute beast without wit or 
reason, or as one without sense or moving, hath no regard to 
so great and wonderful a spectacle." " For the most and wisest 
part believe that there is a certain godly power unknown, ever- 
lasting, incomprehensible, inexplicable, far above the capacity 
and reach of man's wit, diffused throughout all the world, not 
in bigness, but in virtue and power. Him they call the Father 
of all ; to Him alone they attribute the beginnings, the increas- 
ings, the proceedings, the changes, and the ends of all things. 
Neither give they divine honors to any other than to Him." 

When the Doxosophos had told us these things, we 
inquired still further whether, having a common end in view, 
all were brought thereto in one and the same manner; or 
whether each was allowed to choose for himself what studies 
he preferred. He told us that neither of these was true; that 
when they sat at meat, one would eat chiefly of this dish and 
another of that, and so all be fed ; and yet they gave not to 



— 19 — 

children the key of the store-room. He said further, that 
while he who planted wheat gave it other tillage than he that 
would raise potatoes, yet all were nourished in the same soil, 
wet by the same rain, and thrived in the same sunlight. Cer- 
tain things, therefore, they bade all do in common; while 
among others they had freedom of choice ; nevertheless, if 
they chose not wisely, he might still forbid them. 

He said also that this was not all: that the State were 
indeed repaid if its labors made its citizens sound of body and 
wise of mind unto virtue : but that as those who lived wisely 
sought ever to live usefully ; and those who had received most 
from the Commonwealth sought most to recompense the same ; 
they had ever in view these ends : that all should be instructed 
and inspired to citizenship, as well as to that vocation for 
which each was best fitted. To the former purpose they 
taught all diligently in the history of their own nation ; in the 
constitution of its government; and in those laws which most 
concerned them in the intelligent performance of their public 
duties. " They have but few laws : for to a people so instruct 
and institute very few do suffice. Yea, this thing they chiefly 
reprove among other nations, that innumerable books of laws 
and expositions upon the same be not sufficient. But they 
think it against all right and justice that men should be bound 
to those laws, which either be in number more than be able to 
be read, or else blinder and darker than that any man can 
well understand them." Finally, since they count it every 
man's privilege to be fit not only for citizenship, but for use- 
fulness as well, and their duty therefore to instruct them 
wisely, so they provide further that each, as he comes to 
maturity, choosing in his own mind the vocation of his life, 
shall be instructed largely in those principles on which his 



— 20 — 

vocation may depend, and (as much as lies in their power) to 
teach them the very art and practice of that vocation. And 
they would count it a shame unto them that any should go 
forth from them to be a laughing-stock among men because 
he knew not what to do, nor yet how to do anything wisely. 
Their women, because upon most of them will fall the care of 
home, they instruct largely in the affairs of the household : not 
merely in baking and mending, though these be no vain mat- 
ters ; but in those higher things which make the home of man 
to differ from the lair of the brute, or the hut of the savage 
(whom they count not yet wholly human). Yet if any woman 
findeth herself fit and called to other vocation, her they hinder 
not in anywise, desiring rather that her gifts and talents be 
made most serviceable to the Commonwealth ; for this, say 
they, is the true end of the University. 

When the Doxosophos had thus finished laying before us 
the working of the University, the Rector asked him if they 
made no provision for a liberal education. " I know not," re- 
plied he, " what you call liberal ; but if that which bringeth to 
the full development of the mind and body ; which quickeneth 
and ennobleth the spirit, and which fitteth for that highest use- 
fulness in which we find the highest happiness, be not worthy 
the name ; even if we do at the best imperfectly, as I know 
full well we do, then I pray you show me what is : if there be a 
more excellent way, I fain would know it." " But " said my 
companion, " this is for everybody." " Certainly," was the 
answer; '' for why, in the institution of the weal publique, this 
end is only and chiefly pretended and minded, that what time 
may possibly be spared from the necessary occupations and 
afiairs of the Commonwealth, all that the citizens should with- 
draw from the bodily service to the free liberty of the mind and 



— 21 — 

the garnishing of the same. For herein they suppose the 
felicity of this life to consist." " But," said the Rector, " have 
you no education for gentlemen of leisure?" and seeing a 
look of inquiry upon the other's face, he added, ^' for those 
who have nothing to do, you know ? " '' Oh," said the Doxos- 
ophos, "we have indeed a discipline for such, and that right 
efficient, though they be but few in number ; but not here : it 
is administered in an institution founded for that purpose, 
which is known in our ancient tongue as Bocardo ; but in our 
modern speech as Career." 

In disquisitions, such as this, it is customary, when the 
author has gone as far as he thinks the credulity or the pa- 
tience of his hearers will bear with him, to say " and I awoke, 
and behold, it was a dream," or words to that eflfect. I shall 
refrain from doing likewise, partly out of respect for the aged 
phrase, but rather because I am not so sure, after all, that 
it is all a dream. Utopia exists only in the pleasing fancies 
of Sir Thomas More : but was he a dreamer ? 

No. This sometime Lord Chancellor of England, who 
"was (as witnesseth Erasmus) a man of singular virtue and 
of a clear, unspotted conscience, more pure and white than the 
whitest snow, and of such angelical wit as England never had 
the like before nor ever shall again" was no dreamer. This 
under-sheriff of London, of whom it was true that " there was 
at that time in none of the Princes' Courts of the realm any 
matter of importance wherein he was not with one party of 
counsel," and who, when advocate for the Pope's embassador 
in a civil suit against the Crown, so conducted the affair as to 
win a verdict against his monarch, and at the same time win 
the good will of that monarch so completely "for his upright 
and commendable demeanor therein, so greatly renowned, that 



— 22 — 

for no entreaty would the King from henceforth be induced 
to forego his service," was no dreamer. This Speaker of the 
House of Commons, who first won from an English monarch 
the concession that members of the House might henceforth 
speak forth their minds freely and honestly in criticism of the 
Crown, and who in his place could set at naught the wish of 
the greatest of English Cardinals because it consisted not with 
the welfare of the people, was no dreamer. And he who when 
prime minister of England could withstand the will of Henry 
the Eighth, even when court and parliament and the church 
itself had become pliant to his wish, nay, when cast down from 
his high office was the one private citizen in all England 
against whose sense of right and honor the monarch durst not 
sin too far, and whose life was therefore made the price of his 
integrity, was no dreamer. 

It was no dreamer, but a wise and loving father, who could 
admonish his children, " to take virtue and learning for their 
meat and play but for their sauce ; " who could say to them in 
his hour of greatest prosperity, " It is now no mastery for you 
children to go to heaven, for everybody giveth you good coun- 
sel, everybody giveth you good example ; you see virtue 
rewarded, and vice punished, so that you are carried up to 
heaven by the chins ; but if you live in the time that no man 
will give you good counsel, nor no man will give you good ex- 
ample, when you shall see virtue punished and vice rewarded, 
if you will then stand fast, and firmly stick to God on pain of 
life, if you be but half good, God will allow you for whole 
good." It was no dreamer, but a just and courageous magis- 
trate, who could say in a corrupt and venial age, when urged 
for favor for friendship sake,/' this one thing I assure thee, on 
my faith, that if the parties will at my hands call for justice, 



— 23 — 

thfen were it my father stood on the one side, and the devil on 
the other side, so, his cause being good, the devil should have 
right." It was no dreamer, but a wise statesman and a devoted 
patriot. Who could say from the depths of his heart, when 
speaking his desire that war and strife might cease, and that 
the nations might be enlightened; that monarchs might be 
pure and upright both in private and in public life ; and that 
religious faith might be purified, and freedom of thought estab- 
lished, " so these things might be in Christendom, would to 
God I were tied in a sack and presently cast into the Thames." 
It was no dreamer, no failure, no ascetic weary of life, but a 
brave, upright, warm-hearted man, full to the last of life, and 
hope and courage, who. when it came to the resort that he 
must die or a monarch's desire be balked, could say with a 
light heart and cheerful countenance, as he stood at the foot of 
the scaffold, " I pray you, Mr. Lieutenant, see me safely up, 
and for my coming down, let me shift for myself." From that 
scaffold he never came down ; but went upward to that realm 
for which he longed : that perfect Commonwealth where war 
and tumults cease ; where faith and truth are one ; whose King 
eternal rules in everlasting love and righteousness. His head- 
less body long since mouldered into dust ; but on that scaffold 
died as brave a man and true a martyr for God and humanity 
as ever stood at stake. Was he a dreamer ? 

He did indeed look forward to (may I not say foresee?) a 
time when men should work together for a common good; 
when peace should have her victories far more than war ; when 
each should think far more of duty than of right; when all 
should bear each other's burdens, thus fulfilling the eternal 
law. What social order must exist that this might be, he 
doubtless never knew; he surely did not show us: nor have 



— 24 — 

any made it plain, from Plato down to Edward Bellamy: nor 
yet can any one foresee what lies within the nearing future. 
For that new order can not be by schemes or plans of those 
who say, ''Lo, here," "Lo, there." It cometh not by observa- 
tion: its source, and vital power must be within us. New 
systems of society are as easily invented as new religions ; can 
catch as many hasty followers; and die as quickly: but the 
order and the faith that are to endure had their foundations 
laid nearly two thousand years ago. The new order will be 
not a replacement, but a development of the old order : it has 
ever been so, since the morning stars sang together at the 
beginning of that wondrous evolution of the Eternal Mind 
which we as yet so faintly comprehend. 

We can not tell what that new order will be like : of one 
thing, however, we may be very sure ; that it will never be one 
that destroys or limits that personal freedom and responsibility 
that makes the humblest of our race of more value than many 
sparrows ; the priceless gift of individuality. 

"Thought, conscience, will, to make them all thine own. 
He rent a pillar from the eternal throne!" 

— and that celestial column shall never be buried in the mire 
of bodily and social ease. The new order that is coming, that 
has been coming day by day since the birth at Bethlehem, and 
that will be coming still until the perfect day, will never make 
less but always more of personal freedom and volition ; it will 
make far more and more again of personal responsibility : the 
battle, physical and intellectual, for the rights of man as man 
has raged for centuries ; that nobler and intenser struggle, 
whose weapons are not carnal, where the foe is self, and whose 
end is to exalt before all else the duty of man as man has only 
just begun. In the new order, wiser laws will not make bet- 



— 25 — 

ter men, but better men will ordain wiser laws ; statutes will 
not make men honest, but honest men will make the statutes, 
and for honest purposes ; communism will not make men 
thrifty, but thrift and prudence joined with honest industry 
and equal opportunity will make communes unnecessary. 
Then as now, according to nieji's natural abilities, one man's 
pound shall gain two pounds, another's five, another's ten; but 
wealth will not be gained too rapidly when it is gained in 
honesty and justice and used with wisdom and benevolence. 
Are these but empty platitudes? The hope that they may 
yet be true, is it but the vision of a dreamer ? That war and 
strife might cease, and justice reign supreme, not only between 
nations, but between man and man; between capital and 
labor ; between corporations and the people ; between em- 
ployer and employe: that men might be enlightened and 
inspired in their daily life by faith and knowledge ; that kings 
and governments alike might be both pure and upright, ruling 
in wisdom and unselfishness for the people's good : " So that 
these things might be in Christendom !" 

May they not be ? They can, they will be. But they can 
be only through the action of those agencies which train and 
influence the individual man, and so work as a leaven that 
leaveneth the whole lump. Prominent among these agencies, 
though of a potency for good as yet but hardly tested, are our 
educational institutions of every grade. The common schools 
have their place ; the high schools have their place ; the col- 
leges have their place. Even the " University " of Skowhegan 
has its place ; strip it of its pretensions ; let it be what it is 
able to be ; let it do a little well, rather than pretend to do a 
great deal that it cannot do at all, and it may be of the highest 
usefulness ; there are such here in Ohio, and there are other 



— 26 — 

foundations here that are an honor to the state ; much has 
been said of the multiplicity of Ohio colleges; would they 
were more rather than fewer, so they were all such as some of 
them. One of them I know, which has been for half a century 
a power for lasting good, making constantly not only for cul- 
ture, but for character as well. As the result of its influence 
upon its immediate surroundings, ten per cent, of the young 
men and women of the county in which it stands who are of 
collegiate age are in college there or elsewhere. Did this high 
ratio obtain throughout the state this institution would have 
to-day two thousand students. Why should it not? For great 
as is the power for good of schools and colleges, the university 
rightly ordered must excel them all. Men still question, as 
did my friend the Rector, the right of the state to offer higher 
education. It is not only her right, it is her privilege and her 
solomn duty, for her own safety (which means simply for the 
welfare of the people, of whom and for whom she is), to crown 
her educational system with a noble university. 

I have not yet ventured to say to you what such a univer- 
sity should be like. He who attempts to show by similitudes 
the proportions of great things may fail rightly to measure 
them, he cannot fail to measure himself. He wrote himself 
great among the poets of the world who said of the greatest 
of Americans: 

" His was no mountain peak of mind, 

Thrusting to thin air through its cloudy bars; 

A sea mark now, now lost in vapors blind; 

Broad prairie rather, fruitful, level lined, 

Yet near to heaven, and loved of loftiest stars." 

And were I today to seek a simile for my purpose, I know 
of none more apt than this which I have quoted. Is the uni- 



— 27 — 

versity that can today best minister to the real needs of our 
civilization, the university of the people, by the people and for 
the people, an Alpine eminence, along which many wearily 
climb, but whose summit few can hope to reach? grand indeed 
to behold, but difficult of access? shall we not rather picture it 
as a broad and fertile field, well tilled by diligent and intelli- 
gent labor, enriched by the wisdom of the ages ; watered by 
perennial streams of bounty, of genial exposure to the life- 
giving light of truth ? From it shall come abundant harvest : as 
here to-day, so year by year, shall be gathered a goodly num- 
ber, sixty and an hundred fold ; not of mere farmers, not of 
mere mechanics, not of mere merchants, of teachers, of en- 
gineers, of doctors, of lawyers, not even of mere preachers; but 
of men : men who on the farm, or in the factory, or counting 
room, in school or college, or at the mine or furnace, or in the 
courts of justice, or at the bedside of the sick, or in the affairs 
of state, or in the ministry of the eternal word, are first and 
always men : men of sound and vigorous bodies, of well-trained 
hands, of accurate, clear, and ready thought ; of pure and 
honest hearts ; men who whatever their vocation (I had almost 
said whether high or low, but is there high or low in honest 
livelihood?) strive earnestly each in his own place, in the spirit 
of old knighthood at its best, '' for the glory of God and the 
relief of man's estate." Such the yearly harvest ; but more 
enduring growths shall not be wanting, whose kindly shade 
shall gently temper the fervor of the noonday toil. Here, the 
sturdy oaks of science ; there, the strong and stately elms of 
literature ; here, like a noble pine tree, with straight unswerv- 
ing, heaven-aspiring shaft, divine philosophy ; and in the midst 
of all, and fairer than all, that tree whose leaves, never so 
needed as in this hour of strife and bitterness between man 



— 28 — 

and man, are for the healing of the nations; whose stem is 
duty ; and whose unseen, far-reaching root is faith. 



People of Columbus, what part have you in this matter? 
Seventeen years ago began in yonder building among obsta- 
cles that few can realize the work whose fruition it is yours to 
see. A handful of students, little more than half as many as 
to-day receive the honors which reward their years of patient 
work : a half dozen devoted teachers striving with earnest 
hearts to solve a problem then almost untouched. To-day this 
institution boasts for students not scores but hundreds of the 
best young men and women of the State ; the little band of 
workers has become a noble faculty of strong men, as earnest 
and devoted as at first ; they would be more so were it possible. 
The College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts has become the 
University of Ohio. Founded by the national government for 
the liberal and practical education of the people of the state, 
she has never swerved from her high calling, but has sought 
ever and faithfully to fulfill her mission, and ever with a 
broader and more generous purpose. The field has been well 
tilled; and ample harvests have gone forth. Her sons and 
daughters, who gather loyally at her call to-day, are every- 
where throughout the state in every walk in life, doing her 
name abundant honor ; these are indeed her jewels. What has 
Columbus done ? 

I am not here to chide. I could not if I would say aught 
of censure to the city that I love far more than any spot on 
earth ; but I, who now stand outside ; who to-day have no part 



— 29-^ 

or lot in this University, save that which time and space cannot 
take from me; I may surely ask, what will Columbus do ? 

Shall seventeen years more elapse before a single citizen of 
Columbus shall by his works show forth his faith in the future 
of the University ? Is there no Johns Hopkins here ? No Ezra 
Cornell, who shall make this foundation sure against the peril 
of the politician by endowing it on such conditions as shall 
make its spoliation forever more impossible ? A library is the 
very heart and center of a university ; has Columbus no Enoch 
Pratt, to plant upon this campus a monument to his enduring 
honor? Here has served the state in double function but 
with single heart for many years, one whom the city surely 
loves ; whom all Ohio honors ; whose name stands high through- 
out the land among the workers in his chosen field; the gath- 
ered riches of his years of toil stand to-day in constant peril ; 
an hour's fire in yonder building would destroy them ; whose 
high privilege will it be to build the Orton Museum of Geology? 
Must Ohio wait for some Eeander McCormick from Minneap- 
olis, or far away Tacoma, to plant within her borders a well 
appointed and endowed observatory? Who will win the last- 
ing gratitude of these young men — aye, and women, too — by 
building here a well equipped gymnasium ? Does any fear that 
a low ideal of availability will one day thrust aside the study of 
the humanities? The remedy is easy : well-endowed professor- 
ships will make their calling and election sure. . Does any one 
desire, as do my former colleagues here, that young men and 
women of talent might remain here for original research, and 
thus repay directly to the state her toil for them ? Who will 
endow fellowships to that end ? My friends, I wish that 1 
could tell you half of what I know of the hard struggles by which 
some of those who to-day stand highest among the graduates 



— 30 — 

of the University have achieved their purpose ; what obstacles 
they have overcome ; what oppositions they have conquered ; 
what want and penury they have endured that they might 
finish their course. Who will found scholarships for such as 
these ? 

And when shall these things be? Shall it be seventeen 
years from now, or seventy ? or to-day ? Columbus counts 
among her citizens scores of men whose means are as ample 
for such gifts as these as I am sure their hearts are willing. 
I know them that they are neither selfish nor sordid. I do 
more than vex my lungs when I thus cite them to these oppor- 
tunities. But for every one who has it in his power to give 
such gifts as these there are countless numbers who can give 
far more ; a gift of passing worth. I ask of none of you to- 
day a single dollar for the University : I only ask that you 
who have the means to give such gifts as I have mentioned, 
should ask yourselves whether she be not worthy of them. 
But I do ask of all who hear my voice to-day, and all who 
dwell within the city's farthest bounds, for her a gift worth 
more than all. I ask for her your hearts; your earnest love; 
your constant sympathy ; your faithful, active, tireless interest 
it! her welfare. If you will give her this, I know the rest will 
follow ; for where your heart is there will your treasure soon 
be also. Will you not give her this? 

For this you all can give. Have you sons and daughters 
to educate? Ask yourself first if this is not the place for 
them, and if so, send them here ; but if it is not, recognizing 
that what may be best adapted to the needs of the whole state 
is not necessarily the best for every person in it, send them 
elsewhere ; and God speed them ! but send your good will and 
sympathy to the University no less: think not that because 



— 31 — 

your son or daughter is not here, that therefore you have no 
part nor lot in this matter. Are you a son of Harvard, or of 
Yale? of Williams, Amherst, Princeton, or of any other ? Be 
loyal to your Alma Mater to the core ; let none replace her for 
an hour in your heart ; would you send your own boy where he 
may be inspired by the traditions of his father's studious and 
exemplary life? Do so by all means (:f you are quite sure 
of the traditions) ; but need that hinder you from seeking for 
the young men and women of Ohio the amplest opportunities? 
Are you committed by various ties to Oberlin, or Marietta? 
to Delaware, or Wooster, or Dennison? These and others are 
honored names of noble foundations, whom you do well to 
serve : but shall there be jealousy among the laborers in a 
common field, where not one-fortieth of the yearly crop is gar- 
nered? Can any one of you find cause, then, why you may 
not give this University your earnest sympathy? May I not 
ask it for her once again ? 

If you will give it her ; if you, people of Columbus, will 
have her welfare always on your hearts ; will seek her interests 
wherever you have opportunity, and seek for opportunity ; will 
cleave to her through ill report and good report ; will bear with 
her mistakes, and strive in sympathy and friendship to correct 
them ; will be not weary in well doing, waiting patiently for 
results ; will guard her watchfully, unselfishly, when in peril, 
and rejoice in her prosperity with her ; will study how to do 
her good, and make her feel the nearness of your interest, it 
cannot well be told how much her power for usefulness may be 
increased. I know the honest minds, the earnest purposes of 
those that labor here. I know how they have toiled from year 
to year with singleness of heart and brave resolve ; mistakes 
they sometimes have made, as I know full well, for I have 



OCr ±c 



3 1900 



— 32 — 

helped them make them ; your criticisms have not been want- 
ing then, nor have they failed to profit by them ; but have you 
always smote them friendly? The University is yours to-day 
to make or mar : not open and avowed hostility alone, but mere 
indifiference and cold neglect will hinder and dishearten them ; 
while kind forbearance, heartfelt sympathy, and patient, cor- 
dial aid will strengthen and uphold their hands. With these, 
the University shall go on from strength to strength, and yearly 
grow to more and more of useful service. It shall come to be 
a power for good of wide-spread and far-reaching influence ; a 
source of life, and light, and truth ; an inspiration to high 
usefulness and nobleness of living: a mighty agency for pure 
and honest government in city and in State. " So that these 
things might be in Christendom !" that they might be in this 
our land, this State, and this beloved city ! So should be 
fulfilled therein not the mere fancy of the idle dreamer, but 
the statesman's highest vision: so should this land become, 
indeed, not Utopia, the land that is not — and that can not be — 
but Butopia ; the true, the beautiful, the noble land ! 



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